visit the state of ohio before they start getting tired of seeing you? it's wednesday, september 26th, and this is "now." > joining me toy, author radio host kurt andersen, one half of the inspiration behind the emmy award winning "game change" the man with the longest introduction on this television show, msnbc political analyst and national affairs edir for ilny former boss melinda of the "washington post" and "new york times" magazine editor grammy nominated hugo lindhgren. one hour after high down a showdown at the oh corral. president obama and governor romney are hngueli spes ie bye e. chicago has the edge. the president up by ten minutes in a survey by quinn pe yak and cbs news and leading eight points in poll by "the

washington post." these polls mirror an advantage president obama held in ohio in the polls last week, worth ng the president has a lead that is outside the margin of error. for governor romney, time that cruel, cruel mistress is slipping away. early voting begins in ohio next esday. can he win without the state? ifis age no republican in history has won without ohio. according to the latest nbc news battleground map the president is expected to get 243 electoral votes to romney's 191. with eight tossup states. ecl votes would put him at 261 electoral votes, that is just nine away from winning re-election. surprising exactly no one ohio has been a top focus for candidates. while governor romney logged 17 trips to the state this election s visit this year alone.ing

earlier this month the democratic ticket made clear just how much ohio means to them. >> if we win ohio, we win the election. >> if we win toledo, we will win and if we win ohio we'll win this election. >> john heilemann, there has been no shortage of love for the state of ohio this election cycle. president obama and mitt romney both speaking at 1: today. ionder youre ohe state it's interesting when you look at the dynamics economically at play in ohio. governor cakasic's great job of sheparding the oo economy to accot for state unempyment 7., ler than theio ave, also undercuts mitt romney's message this economy isn't in turn around andime to get someone else. >> makes john kasic a hobbled

sur row gate for mitt romney, you can't say the enomy is greawhen'r tg to prove the economy is bad. thing about ohio it's an important state, and remember when 2004 the whole election came down to john kerry losing narrowly to george w. bush in that state, the president has a coupleuge advantages we're seeingn the ten-point ga, on is the aut bat. e o ste besides michigan be impacted more positively by the auto bailout than ohio. 82 out of 88 counties have an auto parts supplier in them that's felt a direct effect of the bailout. part of why the economy is doing better there. it's enough to move the needle. also the case ttanni backlash in the industrial midwest and wisconsin has motivated organized labor in ohio in a wa the case always for democrats ohio is the place where organized labor has the most impact. this year motivating them more so. all that adds up to it's been an hill c ft mney, ten points is probably not what that margin will be on election day, but it's -- it is a state

that's very hard to figure out a map for mitt romney to win. possible but not -- very hard. almost kind of fantastical, ha his naer to. ttne-- any oth things about >> it's just very, very hard. >> kurt andersen a son of the midwest is. >> i am. >> and john boehn said yesterday, one the this that probably works against romney in ohio is the fact that governor kasic has done a good job of xing government regulation in ohio. >> one way of ttit. >> i think there are a lot of things. i am reassured by the fact that it's coming down to ohio in some sense because it is as representative of america as you could make a state be. it's not iowa or new hampshire, havi this crazy disproportiote per t mi pde i also have to think, in addition to what john said about the auto bailout being undeniable good thing for the administration, for obama, in

ohiomn pcu formative personal problems i think were coming -- are losing him the election in ohio as well. the rich guy, the boss, the -- all that stuff, that is part narrative, part real, just is kill him. >> the james lipton was on this program and said another word for job creators is, bosses. and that's exactly -- the republicans have done a masterful job in sort of changing the game on that but mitt romney i a boss fund li ycolleague, e.j. dion in the washington post writes the latest washington post polls in ohio and florida underscore the trouble mitt romney is having gaining on the economy. basically e.j. saying the republicans have had a very sort of crass attitude towards how

the americans will vote. if you're lking at the poll numbers seemsike the american public has more ouaie as far as the economy. >> the interesting thing to me about the numbers in ohio, is that even those who say the economy is going badly, blame kasic as much as they bla obama and those who think it's going well give the credit ito ama h kasic. so, you know, i do think that what john said about the auto industry is very important and also, women voters are really breaking for obama in ohio as they are elsewhere and in that way, paul an has been a huge dang factor to romney across the board, but seemingly in places like ohio, florida, and virginia in particular. >> which is not how they thoht this was going to play out. you know, the -- hugo, i want to mp, mari t ad from t romney

tle of it. mitt romney straight to camera no suit jacket, let's take a look. >> president obama and i both care aut poor and middle-class families. the difference is, my policies will make things better for them. we suleacompassion by how many people are on welfare. we should measure compassion by how many people are able to get off welfare and get a good-paying job. >> i think that's a song ad for mitt romney. the question is why he wasn't playing that t or three months ago. >> it is a good ad and you ri ths larger dynamic in ohio that actually is true nationally, too, which is you have some economic improvemen you have -- there's a sort of consumer confidence number that came out, highest since feuary, the housing market that's starting toctuay sw reupticks nationally and the distressed markets, so it's going to be hard for mitt romney to go around selling the voice of gloom. that's something people don't want to hear.

they're changing tactics. the compassion idea, something else, compassion and mitt romney not aatur fituthe ve to try something new. i think, i would be interested to see if they come out with a harder economic message because ultimately that's where his rl advantage with the president would lie if they could come up with a story tre that's more compelling than they've been able to so fa >> ieeured extent to which he stuck with the same message in ohio, saying stuff like, we're going to turn out to be greece. >> which he said yesterday. >> he said that yesterday. he also said yesterday, what obama's selling isoeio whe' er accepted in america, you know, that -- >> you don't have to go to greece, obviously. that's changing the subject into some other -- >> to a place that most ohio voters and american voters have no idea what you're talk about. >> the number in the times front page story about theef and, you know, the fourth straight year of trillion plus

deficit, these are things that concern -- >> the american voters. >> and a number that resonates. talk about trillion dollar deficits an every normal person is going to go what are we doing. >> let'se clear about that ad. the ad is a song adut gell candidates do straight to camera ads when they feel like they're in trouble. president obama did his one and only after the welfare ads started to hurt him, you didn't build that, he went straight to camera. romney's ad is a response to the 47% and wha that's doing to h inla iding ohio and to go back to curt's point about why romney is personally beyond the economic numbers, the president has had a problem with white worng-class vote es for a long time. worse in the south than in the industrial midwest but still ther in the industrial midwest. mohe jerry built to be the worst possible candidate to talk to white working-class voters. only one ohio by o point because he was so weak. he has been portrayed by the

president and by priories usa very effectively, t anti-bain s o summer they ran more of those ads in ohio than any place else between the two of them and they did a good job of putting him in a bad position so when the 47% thing happened it came out of romney's mouth reinforced the image that campaign had done a great job >>idn't they know this was g e su we know now they're playing that great intro video from the rnc introduces mitt romney as a human being, beginning to re-air it. the question is why didn't they do it right after the convention when they didn't g a bounce, there was this -- you know thi naativeemngut m romney being this sort of elute plutocrat that had no communion with the everyday american, working clars american, you know, early voting starts next week. >> i think the bigger question is the same question,hen you dial it back further, republicask, w didn't romney over the summer start doing positive advertising in a big way to try to take on the

attacks that were coming on bain and his tax returns and all that stuff. it's one of the great historical estions. some day a historyill be written of this campaign by meone and getting to the ou tgo of decisionshey made prophylactically push off what were going to be attacks one of the blunders they made. >> game change. >> one of the most positive things and powerful things at the republican convention were the people from the mormon church saying,ou know, he wrote the will of myying ead. e t people been. >> ann romney mentioned it on leno and we will talk that about later on the show. i will say in times of duress, i always go straight to camera, after the break, as both campaigns barnstm and blanket the air waves in battleground statesone factor that c maix w largely irrelevant and could spell trouble for governor romney. >> i think a loyal republican says the house is on fire, and time is running out, if we want to save this use, we better do it now.

ess what? u w early voting starts in ohio. in less than a week. i was saying last week, 45 days, there aren't really 45 days left. they got to turn this thing around or they lose. >> tea romney's hunt f r bextn "now." bob... oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on tho mug didn't realize they did photo'tet 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race.

no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. [ male announcer ] fedex office. why shouldur wallets tell us . and every footstep should tell us we made the right decision. so when we can feel our way through the newest, softest, and most colorful options... ...acrosevery possible price range... ...our budgets won't be picking the style. we will. moav ...our budgets won't be picking the style. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now get $37 basic installation on all special order carpet. something this delicious could only come from nature.

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next week but you don't have to wait until then let alone election day to cast your vote. many parts of the cntry you can do it early. early voting under way in south dakota, idaho and vermont. tomorrow in the battleground ioates ofa atk meanwhile, absentee ballots are being accepted in two what?

we don't know how the debates will go. ceou ctoute there's no going back and saying what -- i don't think obama did very well. i want to change my vote. i don't like this early voting. never have. >> early voting helps democrats, maybe early voting isn't so good if you're a republican. l sf fng o we're going to fd early voting suddenly. the other case laura ingraman in the right are making questioni lls in general, it's -- it's -- the desperation is pathetic. one could connect it to the genel, you know, disbelievi inen inut really, at this point to say no, no, no, all these polls, except rasmussen, are faulty because they oversample-- somessust sad. >> ts is the savo of itateebe permeating the romney campaign and joe scarborough highlighted this morning.

i will highlight it today, this afternoon. an op-ed in the "wall street journal" by jason riley that says mr. romney would do better to focus more on reducinged his ur estate's political bias e if whining about the liberal media was a winning strategy for republicans newt gingrich would be the nominee. hugo, i will call your attention -- >> liberal media. >> new york tim hugo lingren, isecause it references stink bombs also. the ap quoting michael mcdonald of george mason university which tracks early voting saying if you wait until the election prior to the election to release your stink bomb you've lost coloradans. ifou've got the geha yove dha soon. >> i agree with that. look, the romney campaign if they could buy time they would be buying it. i don't know what they want to make the most of this last push. it's hard to see -- i mean i think the debates will be interesting for the exact matter

that sometng unexpected has t happen to reayhangac 'sar to imagine -- it's hard to imagine obama going in there and doing a terrible job. it's possible. sort of equally impossible to imagine romney doing such an outanding job, so different than we've ever expected that would also make a difference and yay tha except in 2004, i keep talking about 2004 today, you know, george bush had about a six-point lead nationally going into the first debate. john kerry did not do anything magical in that first debate but managed to perform better tn tt teorg w bued h to and he picked up about four points nationally after the first debate. it's not unconceivable mitt romney could do that. the key with debates does president obama perform poorly or mitt romney well. the key with all des what's the moment. is there a big moment that op ppt about the ndhang dynamic in a big way. governor romney will not only have to perform well in general because president obama's likely to perform well in general but

he has to have moment like that or two moments like that in the first debate that will make people see him with new eyes. that's a very- never done tha before but he could do. joeroulde id had no chance but did it eight years ago. >> the other thing is you're running into this early voting thing as well, which it's not actually 40 some odd days until the election, probably a narrowerwindow, looking at colorado 80% of theeople that voted in corn ie 2008 election cycle voted early. part of the problem for mitt romney is the ground game issue. the reason that democrats do better is because president obama has a and the dnc a fierce get out the vote and early registrationrive and ground game. >> i don't thi ttar vooi t make the debates any less important. especially because those people who vote early in most places, the third of americans who will vote early, have made up their mind, they are the partisans, the strong republica or

deat ao mter what happens in those debates they know how they're going to vote. i so agree with john that we look to those moments well, look to reagan saying there you go again. >> right. >> you know, or to h.w. bush looking at his watch. there are moments that can make a hugeferee d thitut of the question for mitt romney to pull one of those off, eecially because maybe we forget, but barack obama was not a terrific -- he got better, but he was not a terrific debater in '08. i think some interesti things could still happen. >> one thing about theiber a w i addition to, perhaps, romney losing is action. if it's all over now, six weeks of like it's all over, i think -- >> right. >> you're going to see all media including the liberal media's desireor aose game change be -- >> contest modifiers. >> be tremendous over the next six weeks. >> like you can't say it enough times, early voting is

partisans. anybody who's still undecided after three and a half years of barack obama andhis whole campaign, someone who is uncidey'ti decid angoing to wait for the debate and that's the vote that matters in the end. >> there's even an extension of that point which is so when you talk about those people, those undecides who are going down to the wire before they decide who to vote for, wha are the issues that are going to drive them? it seems pretty oio t m bas enomic stuff. you know, because those are the people who do not have an ideological stake in either candidate and looking where the news so-called exogenous events might have impact. >> and -- >> europe, middle east. >> the people who drive you crazy saying i think i ne b- n. >> thinking of a litmus test like wait, how do i feel, who's -- >> or seeing them both on stage together and haven't focused in, i like that guy. >> it is worth noting that -- it is impressive in so far as the president is now aordingo a pup when asked who's

better on the economy, president obama 43%, mitt romney 34%. that's a significant -- that is a significant number as anything else, t fact that obama has now turned around public perception on his stewardship o the economy. >> so much comes down to trust d likability on the prenti lev ande h th ata on those two for sure. >> john, your colleague, friend, one haft of the emmy award winning team that is "ge change" going to keep call you award winning -- >> please . >> mark halperin has a funny -- rk hperis areom buun sort of bit in his note today that says who am i and is talking clearly about mitt romney, now i can't even find it. it's up. wham i? you think that's going to hold through -- >> i hate to tell you, but i think that was not written about mitt romney. i think it was written about both of them. >> really?

>> yes. >> what a spin. >> that's my cone, that many people yesterday said he's leasd wh pde obama. and people like you interpret it as mitt romney. it's a great warshack test. >> it is. >> my view is the answer is both. mark loves to not have either or, he loves both. >> the brilliance of the contest modifying "game chge"ea neknhi am coming from. >> opacity is our middle name. >> what is? >> opacity is. coming up, operation pocahontas, scot brown/elizabeth warren race. the increasinglyastyamn anam a few other head scratchers ahead on "now." . andrew rosen is tourt getif rosenwatch tanks. find his mamly's hand made

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i did not make a mistake with this guy. i can tell you this 's goi un ss.e idof >> but mistakes aside does the relationship between governor romney and his running mate now reside at camp awkward? we willook at the struggle to let ryan be ryan and romney's surrogate problem next on "now." ally bank. why they're always there to talk. i love you, james. don't you love me? i'm a robot. i know. i know you're a robot but the's more in you than just circuits and wires! uhhh. (cries) a machine can't give you what a person can. that's why ally has knowledgeable people

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wthe future of our medicare andr electiosocial security. for... man 1: i want facts. straight talk. tell me your plan... and what it means for me. woman 2: i'm tired of the negative ads and political spin. that won't help decide. s anncr: where do the candidates stand on issues that... affect seniors today and in the future? wow. that's quite a guy, suspeisn't ? paya isnt meg. a second. romney/ryan. romney/ryan.

romney/ryan, there we go. that's great. thank you. >> the already weird interpersonal dynamics on the republican ticket reached a poible dezooe knit of awkwaressterys rn romney campaigned with his running mate. as with all complex relationships it wasn't always like this. square jauds and earn had nest as a 1950's sitcom star he sounded ke a lost member of the romney tribe. re reminding people who is the campaign pate tree yashg. >> i'm putting it back into medicare and i'm the guy running for president, not him. >> ryan doesn't always seem to get the message. in days he's been reportedly acting like a rebellious teageroingk t hld ways and giving power point presentations at campaign rallies. >> we can't keep spending money we don't have. today our federal government for every dollar it spends it borrows cents on that dollar.

ouy at the top there,ks ar our debt is going to be 2.5 times the size of our economy. >> according to the former political director of the iowa republican party, ryan may have no choice, quote, i hate to say th, but if ryan wants to run for national office again, he'll probably haveashe sh omy off of him. kurt, the stench of romney. not exactly what you want to hear someone from your party say. >> romney hasever before been accused of having anything like a stench. >> hhly saze >>he humanizing of mitt romney. >> i realized watching that tape of mitt romney and why he is uncomfortable and makes people el uncomfortable, the boss who might fire you and the plutocrat, also like your date's dad you're constantly meeting and he's a cd and'r awkward and don't want to be near it. >> john, the question of paul ryan and how he's been used or underused by the romney campaign, i think is an

interesting one. the choice surprise a lot of people and the general thinking, perhaps, was that hey, mitt hes, k--yan has a et ecif clear-cut vision for the country and perhaps a sign of things to come and, in fact, mitt romney hasn't embraced the paul ryan message at all. >> i thought it wa crazy to put paul ryan on the ticket because of so much baggage he brought in rms of the house rubli ecicn th i largely really unpopular with a lot of people in the country and that the last thing you want to do is twin yourself up to an unpopular congressional republican leadership and those policy specifics. if you're going to put paul ryan the intellectual, ideological aritect of the prima goincu oe congressional republicans, seems like you should either not put him on the ticket or put him on and give him a bear hug. the fact they've tried to do -- to not do that, get the energy of young conservative hero paul ryan, with -- and then distance themselves fm the things that

ma him aseiv hero, seems whack a doodle. why not put rob portman on the ticket as people thought they were going to do from the beginning. >> with the other piece of sound demonstrates mitt romney feels like he's getting upstaged by pa ryan in terms of the love t there, which i think is culating sle hu in t long scheme of this, after this is all said and done, if mitt romney doesn't win this race, is the ryan brand damaged or is it intact? >> i think it's obviously too soon to tell that. i doubtt will be severely damaged but i think, you know, it awkwardness right after he sort of tapped him and then comes to the convention, i was expecting here's the great synthesis, worked this out, ryan's speech will lay it out, see where the romney/ryan roads meet and we're going to -- i expect that would really be ar p fic y sortf new and it really wasn't. and instead, you seen a continuation of that sort of awkwardness that was originally -- haven't mapped out

the policy stuff at all. ultimately, you do want to sort of position ryan as the kd of eylso have to have a broader economic optimistic outlook that both of them have to share. they have to articulate it. it can't just be about look how lousy things are, this is the president's fault. they nd to get togher on really reclaiming a kind of optimistic olook for the ecomy and the fact thaheir tand regulatory package is the way to get there. they have an argument to make. they're not making it. they're simply doing this weird dog and pony show that is -- i mean i think john said it right. >> when you talk about the dog and pony show, a larger problem as we've establiedith the romn nartiut he h surrogate problem and the person supposed to save mitt romney, humanize him and do a number of other things was his wife ann romney. we were talking about this during the break. on jay leno last night asked about comments she made regarding the press and asking them to stop it. let's he what she had say ike seeing you get mad.

did you get feedback? did you have focus people go, that's wrong? >> no. i stepped out of the interview like oh, dear, did i say it a little strong? no. everyo i've seen is like giving me high ve wha do you make of ann romney as a surrogate at this point in terms of burnishing her husband's brand? >> we hear early on as you said the mitt stabilizer, humanizing him, but i think maybe mitt was rit wn h ,t t fund-raiser that we're using ann sparingly so people don't get tired of her. because i think -- i'm not sure how well she's wearing, you know, anger, be it's very understandable, any political spouse has good reason to feel angry beust'sard t h ose ndac on someone you love. definitely. and yet, it's not that appealing. it isn't just ann romney. i mean when bill clinton got angry on hillary's behalf,

didn't work thatwell. when teresa heinz told a reporter to shove , not the nt. hihannom has been having some of those moments. i actually think that she explained to us better than anybody why the choice for paul ryan, though, when she said early on he's looking for someone he fee comfortable with. >> and that wait. and jusk, k the whole paul ryan not being utilized correctly, i mean you usually hear that complaint from the vice presidential nominee's camp itself and you're not doing that and i think he actually has been aretty loyal secd thilel h maintain his brand. >> i do too. i think also the thing that will help him is the thing that alex pointed out before, and we have a been talking about, the distance -- if romney loses conservatives who consider paul ryan their hero are going to say the reaso romne lost because he dn't emb renou il allow ryan to maintain his heroic status with that

group of intellectuals and activists the basis on which he runs if he runs in 2016. because romney for that reason, didn't give him the bearhug, he can walk away from this relatively withis polital e crvative -- aivis >> even if he had given him the bear hug. i don't know that it matters that much in terms of his future. i think both the spouse and the running mate are in kind of -- they do this same kin of thing for the candidates. i think the can accentuate -- >> one has to sti ou >> eocay. >> but they can accentuate sort of amplify strengths and do that. i don't think they can make up for weaknesses, essential weaknesses. ion't tnk those roles are strong enough to do that in the national spotlight and that's what you're seng. pecting anno shi mian d a how will that work. >> i think paul ryan comes out of this assuming he doesn't become vice president stronger than ever. this is only a good thing for him in terms of his future. >> well, heooks good in a wind breaker. >> and showing the power points is a good thing, part of his

br powoi are part of you going rogue. >> it was a little bit of opacity on the part of the show. is it a joke, not a joke. >> power points. >> new punk rock. stumbling and fumbling, the onepmeef sds the nfl's stak to the political arena paul ryan took a shot at president obama and then newt gingrich got in on the act. >> a lot like the substitute referees in the sense that he's not a real president. i mean he doesn't do any of the e gs pdes do.ents do he has the white house. he has enormous power. >> class act, newt gingrich. we'll examine the ubiquitous and questionable obsession over nfl football and the referee sag that's ahead. ♪ leaving my homeland

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what started out as a cordial affair inassachusetts with both agreeing to limit funding from outside groups has take an nastier turn. polls showing the race to be a ditchethe nice guy image and honed in on elizabeth warren's claims regarding her native american hert annual. he waited a mere 30 seconds at last week's debate before throwing a punch. >> professor warren claimed she was a native american, a person of color, and as y s shs not. >> perhaps unsatisfied with their boss's unstage racial studies some of brown's staffers decided to lower the bar over the weekend. classy. clsy, cl, sy hugo, it is worth noting basically this race is neck and neck, elizabeth warren has had to take out ads semi explaining

her native american heritage. seems lik maybe the pocahontas reoueion it's s stking cheap stuff but does have an emotional appeal. checking of the box, it's a questionable thingo have done. probably done in a, you know, in a nonthinking way. it may not be that revealing of who she really is, and yet it's e kind of thing,lo e ho player, the home state guy, and he basically wantses to make clear this is someone playing to certain advantages. it's cheap but may well be effective. >> i don'tnow how -- if we're stau -- cheap,ikthe maha >> the campaign didn't do it. the professor thing, professor warren, is, to me, pretty cheap. she could come back if there were a way tosay, you know, half naked cover -- half ked -- >> nu nudie mdle would be the equivalent.

>> really want tos class this race up. >> i'm just saying. >> right. but it's worth noting wvur otmo36% strongly or oters l somewhat agree that warren, quote, acts superior to other people, which is the professor thing, but on issues voters agree more with warren, 45 to 33%. john? >> there is, you know, there's issues and then there'she culture of this race and then thetu,slw ha a problem with the fact she's been seen as cambridge and a big chunk of massachusetts that are the people elected like bill weld and other moderate republicans to statewide office in massachusetts for a long time. we know massachutts has never veshren, so n to the she has an uphill climb, i will say, not uphill, it's very close. she has certain things that make you -- keep him competitive. culture and potentially the gender thing. prident obama wins

massachusetts by 30 points, scott own notoi to thra >> that's the issue is how much the top of the ticket, top of the ballot really influences the races. >> i think it's risky for scott brown whose whole persona is nice guy to go after her os waha stuff. >> we had pocahontas but -- >> it risks one of this greatest assets whereas you know i so agree on the gender stuff. i mean, rich trumka, afl-cio came in and madha cnd sa it's crazy to vote against elizabeth warren on the basis of gend and you need to get over it. so i think that really is a huge issue in the race. >> but she's -- >> the likability too. that's what scott brown has going for him. >> she's trying to nationaze e byinhi referendum on, you know, mitt romney and his policies and tying scott brown to the broader republican party platform.

>> and control the senate which she made a point in the debate over and over again. you don't want him to be the chairman of the committee if you give it toeplica il elevate republicans throughout the senate. >> we know the gop needs to win four to gain control. todd akin is in this thing, not leaving, canno take his name off the ticket. i want to know, how -- in w this? is cireccll >> just complete silence. i think it's going to be a close race and it's going to be a closer race than people thought itas going to be. i think she'll probably win the race. she started her -- she has held back on doing any negative d attack him through the entire time from legitimate rape until yesterday, she has not attacked him at all. at 5:01 when it became official she lauhed her first negative ad against him, not a great ad. the gre ad wil have af

epca eliment trashing him in the 48 hours after he made that comment and i think that, that she's -- that -- that those -- the weight of that advertising and bringing the criticism to bear on him, that she has held bac from is probably going to tilt the race in her direction. osha liberals could have imagined it would be. >> i've sewn polling closer than the nine points. legitimate republican figures like newt gingrich, and now john llse sor bl,rell campaigning for todd akin. >> rick santorum and jim demint have endorsed snim because they don't want to hear from the republican base, you know, where were you for todd au kin if he loses. i mean they have to make se ton effort his behalf. i think claire mccaskill has been underestimated. i think she's overperformed for her state which i very

conservative. >> there's tactical moves here that are clearly briiant and given her awfuld cnce wig t race. >> ju jitsu. >> i think they call that playing possum. >> or playing possum. >> playing ju jitsu with a possum. >> clearly not a ju jitsu master. we're going to leave it there. >> that's the game you play with the possum or tikw. ha could possibly put president obama and clinton on the same page as scott walker? football or the absence of good officiating in football. we will explore the far reaching impact of the l'ebrae iat. my name is adam frucci and i'm the itor of splitsider.com. i love new technology, so when i heard at american express and twitter were tming up, i was pretty interested. rnt juynuraman express card secy

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welcome back. time for what now. the nfl replacement ref debacle continues to dominat the conversation today with governor romney, governor scott walker and white house press secretary ensi o sd weighing . thtset-- is there a reason why this issue is getting much more attention than another labor dispute this month, the chicago teacher's strike. ere would be a reason, hugo? >> melinda tds the on >>tshe reason, melinda? >> i was just saying, knowing nothing about the nf that football is so important in our culture that football is the reason for settling the chicago teachers strike so qckly because parents did not want their kids miss out football game, god forbid, and all the pressure on the point. >> all back to football. >> i would like to call a

time-out, though, on all the appropriate being heaped on the guys themselves trying to call the game. it's not their fault they're out ere working. it the owners and teamsha neo ve t mo get this settled. the guys out there, a miracle they're doing as good a job they're doing. it's impossible to referee football games if you're not trained like they are. >> peoples themselves. >> 3 million -- >> i feel their pain. >> $3 mlion rer error. >> a strange place to draw one's line if you're the team owners. >> it is a strange place. we're a strange country. thanks to curt, john, melinda and hugo. see you back here tomrow at noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. pacific when joined b our favorite englishman in america, richard wolffe, and the new york sometimes david leanhart find us at facebook.com/now with alex. andrea mitchell reports is next. good afternoon, alex. >> coming up iran's president speaks of a new worer and

slams yom kippur. ambassador nicolas burns joins me next. dour doourg our hour, mitt romney and president obama campaigning 100 miles in ohio. just as new pollumbers show this is a battleground with the president pulling ah wh iore for football fans this sunday? maybe breaking news. "andrea mitchell reports" coming up next. >> i'm meteorologist bill karins with your business trave forecast. dayre ndany areas and airport delays possible with these pockets of heavy rain and thunderstorms. continue fromansas city to st. louis, evansville, louisiana. late today have a chance of showers arriving in new york city, philadelphia and ingt, d. kifogute he middle of the country. now, that's what i call a test drive.

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